Other Places You Can Find Me

Monday, July 16, 2012

Top 5, Bottom 5: Johnny Depp

Since seeing Dark Shadows last week, I have now seen 20 Johnny Depp movies. That means I've seen enough movies to do a top 5, bottom 5 for just his movies. I have 1741 movies on my Flickchart so far.

Top 5:
1. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003, #39). One of my all-time favorite action movies, and Johnny Depp is definitely the best part of the whole thing.
2. Edward Scissorhands (1990, #51). A beautiful, haunting story that also has some great moments of unexpected humor.
3. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007, #79). A pretty great adaptation of one of Sondheim's best musicals.
4. Ed Wood (1994, #185). As you can tell, most of my 20 Johnny Depp movies are his collaborations with Tim Burton... and this one is great fun, especially as I'm already a fan of Plan 9 From Outer Space.
5. Finding Neverland (2004, #213). Freddie Highmore's least annoying role and a lovely story with a focus on theater, so of course I have to love it.

Bottom 5:
1. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007, #1397). I barely made it all the way through this movie. It's incredibly boring.
2. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006, #1309). This is probably ranked a bit too low, but the fact that I can hardly remember any of it tells you how much I thought of it.
3. Alice in Wonderland (2010, #1302). Why do all versions of Alice in Wonderland make it so terrifying? I mean, it's Tim Burton, so I shouldn't have been that surprised, but Alice should be more whimsical than creepy, and this is just creepy.
4. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005, #1285). ...Actually, same complaint. The original movie is whimsical. The book is creepy. This one is more like the book. And I don't like it.
5. Blow (2001, #1272). Nothing terribly wrong with this, it just... never caught my attention.

What are your favorite Johnny Depp movies? What are your least favorites?

4 comments:

Sweeney Todd is definitely my favorite movie starring Depp. I love the mood of that film, and the style, and the emotions. Great stuff. It might not be my favorite Depp performance, though. That award would go to Ed Wood or Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

Picking a least favorite is harder, as there are quite a few contenders. I was really bored with both of the first Pirates of the Caribbean films, and I haven't bothered with the franchise since. Secret Window is really "meh" too. The Ninth Gate and Alice in Wonderland are also worth mentioning.

Edward Scissorhands and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas are my top two favorite Johnny Depp movies. Although I love just about everything that Tim Burton directs, I’m not a fan of Sweeney Todd. It came up on my Blockbuster @Home list, and I received it in the mail yesterday. My jaw dropped to the ground when I realized that it was a musical! Within the first two minutes, I wanted to shut the movie off, but I stayed strong and watched the film in its entirety. I loved the costumes, but I could have done without all of the singing. Next on my Blockbuster @Home list is Dark Shadows. I’m happy to see it’s not on your bottom five, and I’m thrilled that I won’t have to wait long for the disc since they usually send me movies in my queue rather quickly. If you do get around to checking out Fear and Loathing, you may want to also see Where the Buffalo Roam. It’s not a Depp film, but it is from the same writer, Hunter S. Thompson.

Heh, I had a friend whose brother watched the 2004 Phantom of the Opera movie and didn't realize it was a musical. 10 minutes in, he turned to her and asked, "When are they going to stop singing?" Her response: "Uh... they're not."

Dark Shadows was, I think, 8 or 9 on my Flickchart. I enjoyed it, but it didn't blow me away.

One of these days I will get around to watching Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, for sure.